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Magnolia (1999)
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson · Cut by Dylan Tichenor · Music by Aimee Mann, Jon Brion · 188 min
How it was made
- Anderson wrote the film's rain-of-frogs sequence after reading Charles Fort, not realising until later that it was also a Biblical reference; he partly convinced Philip Baker Hall to join the cast by explaining the sequence to him.
- The production designers analysed films with close, tight, warm colour palettes and worked to evoke the colours of the magnolia flower itself: greens, browns and off-whites.
- For the 1911-set prologue, Anderson shot on a hand-cranked Pathé camera of the kind that would actually have been used at the time.
- The single take following Stanley Spector through the television studio for the taping of What Do Kids Know? runs two minutes fifteen seconds, moving through multiple rooms and hallways while transitioning between different characters.
- Anderson filmed a full-length infomercial for Tom Cruise's character Frank T.J. Mackey and bought late-night television time to broadcast it as promotional material for the film.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Paul Thomas Anderson
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